Details
- Title : Sudhana travelling through a rocky landscape with two bulls
- Year : 12th century
- Classification : Manuscript Painting
- Medium : Opaque watercolour and ink on palm leaf
- Dimension : 1 31/32 in. x 2 1/16 in. (5 cm x 5.2 cm)
- Accession No : 1990.154
- Country/ Geo-location : NEPAL
- Collection : San Diego Museum of Art
- Credit Line : Edwin Binney 3rd Collection
- Manuscript/Book Title : Gandavyuha sutra (Entry into the Realm of Reality)
- Provenance : *Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, New York ( - May 25, 1961 ) *Edwin Binney 3rd, San Diego, California ( May 25, 1961 - August 27, 1990 ) *San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California ( August 27, 1990 - )
- Label Copy : Label Copy: September 2005 Devotional Arts of Nepal A paragon among early painted manuscripts of Nepal, the manuscript from which these four pages come describes the pilgrimage of the young merchant Sudhana who travels from one spiritual teacher to another until he learns the ways of the Bodhisattvas. (Bodhisattvas are one stage away from fully enlightened Buddhas, and they vow to remain in the world to help other beings become Buddhas first). Although the text is common in China, these pages are from the only surviving manuscript of the Gandavyuha in South Asia. The paintings have a lyrical quality which, along with the subtle shading and imaginative landscape elements, conveys the uniquely Nepali style rooted in classical Indian painting traditions of the 5th century. Sonya Quintanilla (2014) Quebec Label Seated Bodhisattva Sudhana traveling through a rocky landscape with two bulls Sudhana standing beside a tree Sudhana kneeling before a bodhisattva Folios from a Gandavyuha-sutra Nepal, 12th century Opaque watercolour and ink on palm leaf Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, 1990.152, .154, .153, .155 Before the introduction of paper to India and Nepal, religious books were written on palm leaves and kept in the monastery libraries or temple shrines as sacred objects. These four pages are from one of the finest surviving among the early illustrated manuscripts of Nepal. The paintings have a lyrical quality that along with the subtle shading, fluid contour lines, and imaginative landscape elements, conveys the uniquely Nepali style rooted in classical Indian painting traditions of the 5th century. The text describes the pilgrimage of the young merchant Sudhana who travels from one spiritual teacher to another until he learns the ways of the bodhisattvas. Although the text is common in China, these pages are from the only surviving manuscript of the Gandavyuha in South Asia.
- Exhibition History : *Temple, Palace, Mosque: Southern Asian & Persian Art, , 1/2/2010 - 2/1/2011 *Temple Palace and Mosque Rotations, San Diego Museum of Art, 8/16/2010 - 00/00/00 *Into India: South Asian Paintings from The San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art, 2/28/2012 - 5/27/2012